Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: What are bushfoods?

20 minutes

Find Out: Are bushfoods the ultimate solution?

25 minutes

Take Action: Bushfood recipe cards

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune In: What are bushfoods?

Step 1

Share the images with students on the attached visual explainer and invite them to complete a See-Think-Wonder routine around the images (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Once complete, invite students to share their thoughts with the class.

Step 2

Explain to students that all these images are foods that are grown by farmers for us to eat. The foods on the left are foods you might be used to eating or seeing in the supermarket: lemon, asparagus and blueberries. The foods on the right are plants that are native to Australia, unlike the foods on the left. These bushfoods are:

Finger Lime - these grow naturally in the rainforests of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales. Inside the skin, there are delicious beads of tangy citrus pulp that is often called 'lime caviar'! They are very popular with chefs around the world.
Samphire - these grow on the salty flats of southern Australia. They are crunchy and give a slightly salty burst of flavour that tastes like asparagus.
Midyim (or Midgen) Berry - these are native to eastern Australia. The berries are sweet, tangy, very tasty and often compared to blueberries.

Step 3

Share the following video with students:

Bush Tucker Garden - Behind the News (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ8NiPKTavQ)

Once complete, invite students to share anything interesting or important they noticed in this video, including:

The vital knowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have about bush foods
The way the bush food industry is growing and how demand for bush foods in Australia is rising.

Although it wasn’t discussed in the video, you can also explain Australia's growing interest in bushfoods because of climate change and biodiversity loss. It is thought that because bush foods are native to our country and are adapted to our climate, they have a higher chance of being able to withstand any variations in climate due to climate change. They are also believed to be essential in terms of biodiversity because they provide food and habitat for native creatures.

But before we start replacing lemons, asparagus and blueberries with finger limes, midyim berries and samphire, we need to answer the question: are bushfoods really better for our environment?

Find Out: Are bushfoods the ultimate solution?

Step 1

Give each student/pair access to this fact sheet and to the Student Worksheet.

Differentiation: Students could work individually, in pairs or as a class to read through the fact sheet and complete the following task. You can adjust the level of individual work based on your cohort.

Invite students to read through the fact sheet (they could read the whole fact sheet, or you could assign students with different sections to focus on). As they read, encourage students to take note of any words that are unfamiliar to them.

Take a moment to check any unfamiliar language before moving on to the next step.

Step 2

Now explain that they will use the fact sheet to guide an analysis of bush foods in terms of the following factors:

climate change
biodiversity and land use
water
jobs.

Students need to answer the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

How might growing more bush foods in Australia improve biodiversity?
How might growing more bush foods in Australia help address climate change?
How might growing bush foods in Australia help to improve water quality and quantity?
How might growing bush foods in Australia create more jobs?

Students should try to draw in contrasts to conventional agriculture where they can. They could also undertake further research online beyond what the fact sheet provides.

Step 3

Students will now create a rating system that visually demonstrates how they think bush foods rate for their potential to improve climate change, biodiversity, water quality and quantity, and jobs.

Students could come up with their own rating system, or you could suggest one. Examples of these methods are shown in the attached visual explainer for you to share with your students. They could use a numerical system (e.g. a rating out of 5 or 10, a pros and cons list, or a scale.

Step 4

Engage students in a brief discussion about how their ratings compare with other people in the class. What are the reasons for these differences?

Take Action: Bushfood recipe cards

Step 1

Students will now research one native bush food and create a recipe card for this bush food. The aim of this bush food recipe card is to share the importance of bush foods in terms of climate change, water, biodiversity and jobs with an audience (e.g. other students, teachers or families) and to show how easy it is to use bush foods in everyday cooking.

Some sources for research could include:

About bushfoods -

Recipes -

This poster features Australian bush foods and their uses.

Students could create a draft of their bush food recipe card before making their final versions. The drafts could be shared with peers for feedback and improvement.

This rubric could be used to help students plan and create their bush food recipe cards as well as assessments.

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to answer the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What bush food would I most like to try and why?
How was the information presented in this lesson connected to what you already knew?
What information was new to you?
What information pushed your thinking in new directions? What was challenging for you?

Take it further

You could work with students to select one of their chosen recipes and make it as a class.
You could work with students to grow your own bush foods! You could consider harvesting and preparing any foods you collect and selling them to raise money for a cause of your choice. Further information about how to start a social enterprise can be found here.

How Can Bush Foods Help Agriculture?

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Summary

Learning intentions:

Students will...

Success criteria:

Students can...

Lesson Guides and Printables

Lesson Details

Skills

Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Additional Info

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